Beggar's Christmas
by ScarredSilver
Summary: Caspar just wanted Quentin to have a special first Christmas with him. I give these titles no thought and I apologize


**Merry angstmas guys**

**seriously just bullshitted this at the last second this morning so I could upload it today sorry**

**Caspar = Mine**

**Quentin = Not mine**

* * *

The poochyena slowly and quietly shut the door to the little back passageway he had found in the rundown apartment complex he lived in, now with his new friend who couldn't quite leave the building on his own yet. It was okay, since he was leaving very early in the morning and the sun wasn't even up yet so of course the spiritomb he had found wasn't going to be up either. Caspar's ears perked up as he glanced around, pulling his thin coat closer to himself to try and block out the winter wind. After making sure no one was around he hurried off into the wooded area not far from the desolated buildings where they lived, his tail puffing up from the cold. The dark type had a smile on his face out of pure excitement as he crossed past the tree line. "Okay...i-it's got to be perfect…" he mumbled to himself as he dug around in one of the jacket pockets and then pulled out a wadded up page that he had ripped from a magazine in the store a few days before. Caspar carefully uncrumpled it, not wanting it to rip, and looked at the pictures of Christmas trees that had been printed on it. His ears lowered slightly as his eyes caught the price of the trees again, wishing he could buy one himself but when his stomach growled loudly he was quickly reminded that he hardly had enough money to feed Quentin and himself.

Once he was reminded of Quentin his attention went back to looking where he was going, searching for some pine trees. He wanted to bring one back for him and for Quentin to have on Christmas. It was only a few days away and he had been able to scrounge up some ornaments out of the other abandoned garages nearby and steal a box of candy canes so they could decorate it. His tail wagged as he grew excited again, wanting to see his friend smile when he awoke and saw the tree in their makeshift home, and he hurried to get farther into the woods. After a little while he stopped and looked around, sure he was at least halfway into the giant cluster of trees. He glanced back down at the paper he still had in his hands, looking the trees on it over for about the tenth time in the hour, and then scanned the ones around him for one that looked close to them. Caspar started to walk closer to one of them and looked it up and down, trying to think of how it would fit in through the back way since he was too afraid to go through the front and be seen by any wandering gang members that might jump him for the money he didn't have. After a minute more of contemplating Caspar smiled and took a step back. He was going to take the tree and he would make it fit.

The poochyena looked around to make sure he was alone and then back at the tree, it was about two heads taller than he was. He changed his stance a little and then attacked the trunk of the tree with incinerate, watching the fire burn away the trunk enough for the pine tree to fall onto its side. Caspar quickly threw snow onto it to put out the fire before it could travel up and reach the branches. His smile grew as he looked at the tree now on the snow covered ground and reached down, grabbing it by the trunk. "I just know Quen's going to love it!" he nearly giggled to himself and started to drag it but soon stopped, his ears perking up. He heard talking and snow crunching under much heavier feet than his and he dropped the tree and ran behind a nearby one, starting to shake out of fear as he covered his mouth to try and stay quiet. He stayed still, listening to the people coming closer and able to hear them laughing. They sounded older and smelled drunk to top it off, making Caspar's tail bristle in fear for being caught. He peeked around the tree, thinking about trying to grab the one he knocked down and running, but once he started to move out to grab it one of the strangers broke through the bushes and sent him running in the other direction.

He ran until he got out of the woods and into the other side of the city, stumbling and panting hard as he came to a stop on the sidewalk. Caspar grabbed at his chest as he looked over his shoulder in the direction he came from, his ears lowering as he calmed down and realized he had no tree to bring back. The poochyena sighed sadly and took the paper out of his pocket again, gazing at the trees on it until it was almost blown out of his hands as a car drove past him. He quickly stuck it back into his pocket so he wouldn't lose it and started walking down the sidewalk, pulling his jacket closer around himself. He figured he might as well head home, there was no reason for him to be out anymore. The dark type kept his gaze down as he walked, not looking around other than looking long enough to make sure he was going in the right direction. He was passing a grocery store when he heard some men arguing, causing him to stop and look over. There was a large truck parked in front which was half full of Christmas trees, two workers were in front of the open back with one having a disagreement with what Caspar guessed was the store's manager.

The poochyena slipped closer, trying to listen to what they were saying, and was able to tell the manager was complaining about one of the trees they had delivered. His attention went farther down towards the ground, seeing the manager waving a hand towards a small, scrawny pine tree that was only about two feet and laying on its side in the street. Caspar stayed still for a moment, staring at the tree as he drowned out the voices of the others. After a few heartbeats he made up his mind and darted forward. He grabbed the small tree and took off down the street, able to hear the shouting of the manager for someone to grab him but no one ever did. The dark type only stopped once he was on the other side of town, close to where he and Quentin have been living, and panted hard out of fear and exhaustion. After making sure no one was coming he leaned against the wall of the building he was next to and looked down at the tree he had snatched, his ears lowering as he realized how pitiful it looked. The branches weren't that strong, they were far apart, the pine needles were tough and had poked into his skin, and upon trying to make it stand up straight the tip of it dropped a little to the side. The poochyena felt his heart sink as he looked at the sad little tree, having hoped to have made Quentin's first Christmas with him special.

Caspar sighed and picked the tree back up, holding it as best he could without hurting himself with the pine needles, and headed back to the abandoned building. He went in through the back way in case some delinquents were roaming around and shut the door tightly, wanting to try and keep as much cold air out as he could even though he knew it would do little to nothing due to the broken windows and holes in various parts of the building. After ducking into another room where he had hidden the decorations for the tree he headed to the one he and the spiritomb used as their room quietly, not wanting to wake him up. He looked to where he saw Quentin sleeping under the covers, making sure he was still asleep before setting the tree up close by to where they both slept. Caspar put the box of old ornaments and the box of candy canes on the small table so none of them would fall over in case one of them bumped the box. He looked around for a moment before turning his attention onto Quentin, walking over and patting him on the shoulder to try and wake him up. "H-hey Quen…you need to wake up. I got a surprise!"


End file.
